Filling thread stop motion device for a shuttleless weaving machine

ABSTRACT

A filling thread stop motion device for shuttleless weaving machines with filling thread supply packages situated outside of the warp shed and a thread feeler sensing needle which is to be woven-in in front of each pick and thereafter withdrawn from the cloth in the rhythm of the lay movement, the thread feeler sensing needle being movably borne in a housing and operatively connected to a control switch that is actuated according to the position of the needle, whereby the housing is pivotably borne to cause a plunging movement of the needle in accordance with the movement of the lay.

United States Patent [191 Bernath [451 Apr. 16,1974

[ FILLING THREAD STOP MOTION DEVICE FOR A SHUTTLELESS WEAVING MACHINE [75] Inventor: Oskar Bernath,Umiken,

Switzerland [73] Assignee: George Fischer AG Brugg, Brugg,

Switzerland [22] Filed: Nov. 24, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 201,805

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 27, 1970 Switzerland 17584/70 [52] US. Cl. 139/370 [51] Int. Cl D03d 51/34 [58] Field of Search 139/336, 370-374 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,396,757 8/1968 Ballbe 139/370 3,145,739 8/1964 Metzler 139/370 Primary Examiner-Henry S. Jaudon Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Donald D. Denton '57 ABSTRACT v A filling thread stop motion device for shuttleless weaving machines with filling thread supply packages situated outside of the warp shed and a thread feeler sensing needle which is to be woven-in in front of each pick and thereafter withdrawn from the cloth in the rhythm of the lay movement, the thread feeler sensing needle being movably borne in a housing and operatively connected to a control switch that is'actuated according to the position of the needle, whereby the housing is pivotably borne to cause a plunging movement of the needle in accordance with the movement of the lay.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures QATENTEDAPR 15 1914 3,804; 129

sum 1 or 3 Fig.1

FILLING THREAD STOP MOTION DEVICE FOR A SHUTTLELESS WEAVING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION On shuttleless weaving machines with continuous filling insertion, thread filling stop motions such as that of the German Pat. application (DAS) (Auslegeschrift) No. 1,903,238 published May 21', 1970 are known by which the filling thread issensed by means of a feeler needle and on thread filling breakage an electric ciruit is closed by a switch, whereby the weaving machine is stopped. The disadvantage of this motion is the fact that the reed must pass the feeler needle laterally which requires a reed adapted to the width of the cloth which means that for different cloth widths it is necessary to use different reeds adapted to each cloth width in an expensive manner.

Another thread filling stop motion is shown in Swiss Pat. No. 486,580 in which the control for the needle movement is transferred by comparatively heavy parts from a remote machine part, which, due to the little available room at this place of the weaving machine, requires a complex design and, is furthermore subject to trouble and lacking the required precision due to the arrangement of the many joints.

Also in Swiss Pat. No. 439,165 there is shown a thread filling stop motion on a fast running weaving machine of a different kind in which a fork and a buffer are each arranged on a rod and moved by the lay. The rods are guided parallel in a holder and pressed back into basic position by springs. The disadvantage of this configuration is that, due to the high number of strokes of the weaving machine and the resulting strain, a comparatively heavy construction is required, whereby the vibrations caused by the stroke falsify the adjustment of the fork and of the buffer so that an exact sensing of the pick is no longer guaranteed. A further disadvantage of this execution is that the open and'unprotected contacts are subject to a considerable risk of contamination thus making their function unsafe.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The purpose of the present invention is to provide for a filling stop motion which is of simple design and provides a particularly high safety of function. This invention therefore contemplates a thread filling stop motion sensing device for shuttleless weaving'machines with its filling thread supply packages positioned outside of the warp shed and by providing a thread feeler needle which is woven-in in front of each pick and consecutively withdrawn from the cloth in the rhythm of the lay movement. The thread feeler needle in operation is movably borne in a housing and provided with a control switch that is actuated according to the position of the needle, so that as the housing is pivotably borne it causes a plunging movement of the feeler needle in accordance with the movement of the lay. This thread filling stop motion is particularly accomplished by means of a control runner that is pivotably arranged in a housing, with the control runner being actuatable by means of a sliding piece connected to the lay or to its reed, respectively, and carrying the switch so that one end of the feeler needle lies within the range of an actuating lever of the switch if the needle is not woven-in for stopping the weaving machine, or out of the range if the needle is woven-in.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will now be described in more detail by reference to a preferred embodiment and to the drawings and description thereof, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of part of the left-hand side of a shuttleless weaving machine showing the thread filling .stop motion device attached thereto;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the thread filling stop motion device in the position shortly before withdrawing the woven-in feeler needle;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the thread filling stop motion device shown in FIG. 2, with the feeler needle not woven in; and

FIG. 4 is a graphical representation of the various movements of the thread stop motion device and the relationship of the movements to each other:

Line a is a representation of the lay movement;

Line b is a representation of the runner and switch mechanism movement;

Line c is a representation of the movement of the thread feeler needle with filling thread present;

and

Line d is a representation of the movement of the thread feeler needle with the filling thread being absent. 7

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawings, numeral 1 represents a loom side of a shuttleless weaving machine to which is attached a bracket 10 by means of screws 11, the bracket having therein a bearing 12. A shaft 13 having a notch 14 therein is arranged in the bearing 12in a manner so thatit can be slid parallel to the reed 4 and fixed in position by means of a grub screw 15 (see FIG. 1). A housing 17 is pivotably borne in a bushing 18 positioned on the end of the shart 13, with the housing being secured against lateral movement by a stop 16 in one direction and by a disk 19 with a clip 20 in the other direction. A'torsion spring 21 is fastened with its one end on the housing 17 and with its other end in an adjusting collar 22 which is clamped onto the shaft 13 and imposes a downward force upon the housing 17. The housing 17 has a cam portion 41 that lieson a sliding piece 25. The sliding piece 25 is connected" to holder 24 which in turn is fastened to the'reed 4 and connected with the lay 3 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). The

' housing 17 is provided with a slot 26 and with a cut-out 27, in which a runner 29 is pivotably arranged on a -out 27 of the housing 17 a shaft 46 is borne for rotation in the housing wall 28 and a transparent side wall 35 of housing 17. Feeler sensing needle 39 has a sensing tip 47 and a lever actuating end 49 and is operatively connected to a shaft 46 upon which it rotates and is pulled into ground position against a stop 52 by a spring 51 which is hooked into an eyelet 50 and fastened to sidewall 35 of the housing 17 (see FIG. 3). The connecting wires 53 for energizing the switch 34 lead through a cable 56 to a stop motion mechanism not shown for the weaving machine, such as for instance a relay. The cover 36 is fastened to the housing '17 by means of screws 54 and serves as a holder 55 for the electric cable 56. The function of the above described filling thread stop motion is as follows:

In FIG. 4 there is graphically presented the relationship of the movement of lay 3 with its reed 4 and sliding piece 25, the runner 29 with the switch 34 attached thereto, the thread feeler sensing needle 39 running in the gap 7 between the ground warp ends 5 and the auxiliary warp ends 6 that takes place during one revolution (360) of the main shaft. This relationship is depicted by line graph designated a, b, c and d, with c and d illustrating the movement of the feeler needle 39 woven-in or not woven-in respectively. The position of the lay 3 at l80is represented by line a of FIG. 4 as well as the cam portion 41 of the housing 17 pivoted on the shaft'l3 and drawn by a dash-dotted line in FIG. 3. The feeler needle 39 has its lever actuating end 49 resting against the stop 52 corresponding with the basic position of the described motion (see FIG. 3).

FIG. 4 also illustrates the synchronized back and forth movements of the lay 3 as well as the movement of the runner 29. The cam portion 41 of the housing 17 follows the sliding piece 25 on the forward moving reed, whereby the housing is being lowered. At 294 the sliding piece 25 touches the runner 29 as shown in FIG. 3 which is thenbeing raised inrelation to the housing 17. The reed 4, which in the range of the gap 7 is covered with a plastic sheet 38, meets at 320 the feeler needle 39 which on beating-up'of the last pick 48 is pushed into the position as shown in FIG. 2 and thus woven into the cloth 9 in front of the filling thread or pick 48. The needle 39 remains held in the normal case in this position upon beat-up of the lay at and during the backward movement of the lay 4 up to 92 as illustrated by line c of FIG. 4.

fore be kept so thin to run between two warp threads without leaving a mark in the cloth. Furthermore the operation of this motion is very reliable, as the movement of the lay with the sliding piece is transferred precisely to the runner even at high speeds and thus stops the weaving machine immediately in the case of a filling breakage.

The disclosure of the preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrative thereof and various changes and modifications can be made, as will be appreciated, all within the spirit and scope of the inventive comcepts contained therein and the invention is not to be restricted except by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim l. A filling thread stop motion device for shuttleless weaving machines having a beat-up means operatively attached to a lay with filling thread supply packages being positioned outside of the warp shed and a thread feeler needle adapted to be woven-in in front of each pick and consecutively withdrawn from the cloth in the rhythm of the lay movement, said feeler needle being position of said needle to cause stopping of the loom,

With the backward movement of the lay 4 with the v sliding piece 25, the runner 29 with its switch 34 is lowered at 66. As the sliding piece 25 moves into the range of the cam portion 41, the housing is pivoted around the shaft 13 and raised until at approx. 92 the tip 47 is thereby pulled out of the cloth 9 and the feeler needle 39 pivoted by the spring tension around the shaft 46 into the basic position. This is the normal way of function with the pick 48 being inserted in the ordinary manner.

On filling thread breakage, i.e., if the tip 47 is not woven-in by the pick 48, the needle 39 follows immedi-' ately the backward moving lay 4 with the plastic sheet 38 and reaches its basic position already at as shown by line d of FIG. 4. By the tension of the traction spring 51 the lever actuating end 49 is thus pivoted around the shaft 46 into the range of the actuating lever of the switch 34, whereby the end 49 depresses the actuating lever 45 when at 66 the runner 29 with the switch 34 is lowered. Thereby the electric circuit is closed and the weaving machine stopped.

It will be appreciated that an advantage of the described configuration of the filling stop motion is that based on its design, the feeler needle does not have to move any masses along with itself and that it can therethe housing being pivotably borne to cause a plunging movement of said feeler needle in accordance with the movement of the lay, said device characterized in that a runner means is pivotably arrangedin the housing for altering the position of the control means so as selectively to place said control means out of operative association with said feeler needle when said needle. is woven in by a filling thread, said runner means being actuatable by a sliding piece means fixed on the beatup means so as to slide in operative relation to said runner means and said runner means carrying said control.

means, whereby one end of said feeler needle lies within the moving range of an actuating lever of said control means when the needle is not woven-in and outside of the moving range when the needle is woven- 2. A filling thread stop motion device of claim 1, where-in said control means is mounted in a cut-out of said housing and protected by a transparent wall.

3. A filling thread stop-motion device of claim 1, wherein the runner means is guided'in a slot of the housing and pivotably borne on a pivot and biased against a stop edge by means of a spring.

4. A filling thread stop motion device of claim 1, wherein said feeler needle is biased into a basic position against a stop by means of a. contraction spring.

5. A filling thread stop motion device of claim 1, wherein said housin'gispivotably borne on a fixed shaft and biased by means of a torsion spring against said sliding piece means operatively connected to said lay and its reed.

6. A filling thread stop motion device of claim 1, in which said control means is an electrical control switch which is actuatable by said thread feeler needle. 

1. A filling thread stop motion device for shuttleless weaving machines having a beat-up means operatively attached to a lay with filling thread supply packages being positioned outside of the warp shed and a thread feeler needle adapted to be woven-in in front of each pick and consecutively withdrawn from the cloth in the rhythm of the lay movement, said feeler needle being movably borne in a housing and operatively associateD with a control means that is actuated according to the position of said needle to cause stopping of the loom, the housing being pivotably borne to cause a plunging movement of said feeler needle in accordance with the movement of the lay, said device characterized in that a runner means is pivotably arranged in the housing for altering the position of the control means so as selectively to place said control means out of operative association with said feeler needle when said needle is woven in by a filling thread, said runner means being actuatable by a sliding piece means fixed on the beat-up means so as to slide in operative relation to said runner means and said runner means carrying said control means, whereby one end of said feeler needle lies within the moving range of an actuating lever of said control means when the needle is not woven-in and outside of the moving range when the needle is woven-in.
 2. A filling thread stop motion device of claim 1, where-in said control means is mounted in a cut-out of said housing and protected by a transparent wall.
 3. A filling thread stop motion device of claim 1, wherein the runner means is guided in a slot of the housing and pivotably borne on a pivot and biased against a stop edge by means of a spring.
 4. A filling thread stop motion device of claim 1, wherein said feeler needle is biased into a basic position against a stop by means of a contraction spring.
 5. A filling thread stop motion device of claim 1, wherein said housing is pivotably borne on a fixed shaft and biased by means of a torsion spring against said sliding piece means operatively connected to said lay and its reed.
 6. A filling thread stop motion device of claim 1, in which said control means is an electrical control switch which is actuatable by said thread feeler needle. 